Travelers of a Hundred Ages


Travelers of a Hundred Ages is a nonfiction work on the literary form of Japanese diaries by Donald Keene, who writes in his Introduction that he was introduced to Japanese diaries during his work as a translator for the United States in World War II when he was assigned to translate captured diaries of soldiers; he found them moving enough that he continued to study that genre. Keene's book takes the form of self-contained long chapters that deal with a single diary, each of which is valuable in its own right as a literary work This treatment is especially apparent when Keene writes of Matsuo Bashō's travel diaries, such as The Narrow Road to the North, or provides a window into an author's life, such as in the case of Fujiwara no Teika's Meigetsuki.
There are variant versions of Travelers of a Hundred Ages; the original English version published by Henry Holt deals with diaries between the 850s CE and up to c. 1850, while the Japanese version has a continuation that brings the time span up to c. 1925, in addition to certain chapters that were omitted from the Holt edition "because it seemed unlikely that they would interest readers outside Japan". An expanded edition was later published by Columbia University Press in 1999.
Thematically, the essays are grouped by historical period. Names are given Japanese-style, family name first.

Contents

"Heian Diaries"

Diaries of the Kamakura Period

Diaries of the Muromachi Period

  • Account of a Pilgrimage to the Great Shrine of Ise, by Saka Jubutsu
  • Gifts from the Capital, by Sokyu
  • Reciting Poetry to Myself at Ojima, by Nijō Yoshimoto
  • Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi, by Ashikaga Yoshiakira
  • The Visit to Itsukushima of the Lord of the Deer Park, by Imagawa Ryoshun
  • A Source of Consolation, by Shōtetsu
  • Journey to Fuji, by Asukai Masayo
  • Journey to Zenko-ji, by Gyoe
  • Account of Fujikawa, by Ichijō Kaneyoshi
  • Journey to Shirakawa, by Sōgi
  • Journey Along the Tsukushi Road, by Sōgi
  • Account of Sogi's Last hours, by Socho
  • Account of Utsunoyama, by Socho
  • Socho's Notebook, by Socho
  • A Pilgrimage to Yoshino, by Sanjonishi Kin'eda
  • Journey to See Fuji, by Satomura Joha
  • The Diary of Gen'yo, by Gen'yo
  • Choshoshi's Journey to Kyushu, by Kinoshira Choshoshi

Diaries of the Early Tokugawa Period

Bashō">Matsuo Bashō">Bashō's Diaries

  • Exposed in the Fields
  • A Pilgrimage to Kashima
  • Manuscript in My Knapsack
  • Journey to Sarashina
  • The Narrow Road of Oku
  • ''The Saga Diary''

Diaries of the Later Tokugawa Period

  • Journey to the Northwest, by Kaibara Ekken
  • Travels of Gentlemen Emissaries, by Ogyū Sorai
  • The Frolic of the Butterfly, by Yamazaki Hokka
  • Diary of the Nagasaki Border Guard, by Nagakubo Sekisui
  • Diary of Kokan's Trip to the West, by Shiba Kōkan
  • Journal of a New Era, by Ōta Nanpo
  • Bakin's Diaries, by Takizawa Bakin
  • The Diary of Iseki Takako, by Iseki Takako
  • The Uraga Diary, by Sakuma Shōzan
  • The Nagasaki Diary, by Kawaji Toshiakira
  • The Shimoda Diary, by Kawaji Toshiakira